From SMS President to Facebook President

by Lanka Rising (lankarising.com)

During 2005 presidential election, Ranil Wickramsainghe was crowned to be the SMS presidential winner. However the count of the ballot proved Mahinda Rajapaksa to be the real winner.
Subsequently E-mails were circled in cyber sphere carrying the message “Ranil – the SMS president; Mahinda – the People’s president”.

Since then we have witnessed the down time of popular SMS culture. Most of the telecom operators in collaboration with media organizations were busy promoting SMS polls during 2005 presidential election. The youth and urban community were busy sending SMS to support for their choice to be the winner in SMS polls. Telecom operators collected large amount of money in that SMS surge.

Until the Election Day, Ranil Wickramasinghe had been the SMS president of the Mobile Republic of Sri Lanka and all UNP supporters were happy. However the SMS bubble was burst when the real election result was out.

SMS culture is still dominated in reality shows that are popular in lumpant urban society of Sri Lanka. However the fraudulent use of SMS voting is now revealed to the Sri Lankan community. Media organizations and Telco operators are accused of influencing and manipulating the results. On the other hand several people who has operated SMS machines to send bulk SMSs has also been reported. Some people have hired these automated mechanisms to become cheap stars in reality shows conducted in recent past. Therefore, SMS voting has lost confidence in the people. Therefore, we have not seen any major SMS voting competitions targeting presidential election 2010.

Last time popular SMS president Ranil Wickramasinghe has already quit the presidential race and put forward Sarath Fonseka to the fray. However the same vicious forces that backed Ranil Wickramasinghe in 2005 are backing Fonseka this time. Although the face of the candidate is different, the stratagy behind the campaign remains the same.

The Vikalpa printed media lost people’s faith when CBK’s true character was exposed in here very first year of rule. The Sirasa and its SMS propaganda mechanism is now crippled after the frauds are revealed. Therefore the INGO funds are now flooded in cyber space. The Hindustan Times recently reported that at 5.35 p.m. on 11 January 2010, Rajapaksa had 36,012 supporters on his Facebook page, while Fonseka had 47,421 at the same time.

Unlike the use of printed media or local SMS competitions, cyber campaign can get much needed participation of diaspora of both Sinhalese and Tamil. However in reality, though they can influence selecting a cyber president they will not be casting vote in real election.

The votes of the common people decide the result of the real election. More than eighty percent of Sri Lankan’s are from rural villages that are not rotten by capitalist lumpant culture. Mahinda Rajapaksa genuinely represents the aspirations of them. His policies are targeted in developing the villages. Therefore when they speak on the Election Day, the face book president will have to give way to the people’s president once again.

The INGO’s can bring money and marketing bubbles in the lumpant urban society using technology. However they can not address the heart of the common people and win votes!!

More details: lankarising.com